Arduino
Here are some arduino projecst for inspiration: Bin Day Indicator https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLU1cOYf1dY Freezer Temp Alert https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z59XS2wHOB8 Pedals to use with computer/gaming https://www.reddit.com/r/PUBATTLEGROUNDS/comments/9q4rph/hea...
Laravel has a great community it's a PHP Framework https://laracasts.com/series/laravel-8-from-scratch
You can build pretty much anything with it.
Pick something basic, maybe something to track something you collect.
Laravel Livewire is a frontend framework that makes it really easy to create real time calculating forms.